Security for schools gets board's high security rating

Tonight's School Committee agenda was heavy on security-related items after last month's elementary school shooting in Connecticut, but discussion was light.

At the start of the meeting, Mayor Joseph Petty announced that Superintendent Melinda J. Boone is convening a safety committee that will make recommendations in executive session, perhaps by Feb. 7. The full committee unanimously referred all of tonight's security-related items to that committee, no matter how public they might seem. While some items might arguably call for secrecy, such as a request for a presentation from Worcester police on emergency protocol, others seem less revealing, such as a request for a list of violence prevention programs and another to establish an anonymous hotline for students and parents to report potential problems.

Mr. Petty said after the meeting that he was acting on the advice of legal counsel in slotting the security-related topics as a whole for executive session. Only one escaped: a request from committee members Brian A. O'Connell and Donna Colorio to ask the federal Department of Veterans Affairs to create a grant program to allow school districts to hire unemployed veterans to provide security in schools. The issue is scheduled to come back to open session Feb. 7.

Discussion was heavier last night around the school system's Oct. 1 enrollment report, which showed increased enrollment, increased racial and ethnic polarization and wide income disparities among schools. The district collects data on minority de-isolation because of a 1989 plan that began when whites were still a majority in the district. Worcester, through magnet programs and school choice within the district, was supposed to keep the percentage of minority students at any school within 15 percentage points of the systemwide elementary minority enrollment.

Enforcement fell off after a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that restricted how districts can use race in school assignments. In the meantime, demographics have shifted in Worcester schools so that Latinos are now the largest ethnic group. Nonetheless, half of the district's 44 schools are out of compliance with the de-isolation goals.

Ms. Boone and committee member Tracy O'Connell Novick, however, pointed out that income is a more powerful determinant of a child's performance in school. If the district wants to look at rebalancing schools, Ms. Boone said, it should also “begin to look more broadly at what we are trying to accomplish.”

Ms. Novick concurred. “This is probably the modern conversation we need to have around de-isolation,” she said.

In other news, Chief Financial and Operations Officer Brian E. Allen gave an early presentation on the development of the fiscal 2014 budget, which will become more solid after the governor and House release their budget proposals this month and in April respectively. Chapter 70 state education aid is tied to enrollment and inflation, so Worcester public schools would see an increase in the coming year of approximately $12.5 million. The city would not, however, benefit from some of the proposals Gov. Deval Patrick made this week to change the minimum amounts awarded under Chapter 70, Mr. Allen said.

Mr. Allen also tried to put the city's contribution into perspective. The amount Worcester puts into state-required sections of its school budget is the bare minimum, which is not unusual for urban districts. Statewide, however, communities spend an average of 22.7 percent more on their schools than the state requires. Meanwhile, 9 percent above the minimum would generate the $27 million Ms. Boone said she requires to make Worcester the “schools of choice” by beefing up programs for gifted students, adding career and technical courses at all high schools, updating technology and instructional materials, increasing graduation requirements, adding elementary school librarians and implementing full-day preschool.

One of the factors for fiscal 2014 will be the teachers' contract, which expires this year and which the union asked the committee to start bargaining last night. Every 1 percent increase for district employees costs $2.1 million, Mr. Allen said.

Also last night, Mr. O'Connell asked the committee to consider contacting Yeshiva Academy to see whether its property would be attractive for purchase or lease.

The yeshiva recently survived an Internal Revenue Service auction because there were no bidders. But, Ms. Novick said, the district must go through a bidding process any time it wants to acquire property. Mr. O'Connell seemed to think some kind of discussion might be possible, and the item was forwarded to a subcommittee.

The property has federal liens of $472,000.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.